Gloucester City head to Loughborough Students 2nds tomorrow knowing the race for a place in the Women’s Premier Division of the England Hockey League is still very much on.

Their 3-2 win at home to Repton six days ago has kept them on the tails of leaders Buckingham, who drew 0-0 at Sutton Coldfield on Saturday.

With three games to go, the top two in Division 1 North are separated by just two points and the momentum is with Gloucester, who have won three and drawn two of their games this year.

Buckingham, meanwhile, have failed to win any of their last five games – they’ve drawn four – after winning eight and drawing one of their first 10 games.

Buckingham have a better goal difference – 17 to 13 – but Gloucester coach Trevor Done said: “We’ll just keep going, we’re here to win the league, it could happen.”

And if it did happen that would be a huge achievement because the club have never played at that level before.

Gloucester’s win against Repton was just that bit more impressive because it was the first time they had beaten them in four attempts.

They lost 3-2 at Repton at the start of November and Done said of Saturday's win: “It was a good result, it got rid of that hoodoo.”

They made the perfect start with Sally Walton putting them in front after two minutes with an excellent team goal.

“It came after 14 or 15 passes, it’s exactly the way we want to play,” Done said.

Ella-Rose Grabham and Emma Williams got Gloucester's other goals and Done continued: “The girls were brilliant. We let them back into the game but we showed plenty of grit and we’d have won more easily if we’d have taken our chances.”

Loughborough Students are one place and three points below Gloucester, who end their campaign with home games against sixth-placed Ben Rhydding (Saturday 21^st March) and fifth-placed Sutton Coldfield (Saturday 28^th March).

“If we can win every game that will be amazing,” Done said. “What the girls have done this season is fantastic.

“They’ve stayed focused, they want to learn, they want to do well.”

Done reckons Buckingham, who host Ben Rhydding tomorrow, remain favorites for the title.

“They’re still top,” he said.

Done also admits to having concerns about his side's final game against Sutton Coldfield, who beat them 5-1 back in November.

“We had a shocker,” he said. “They are a bogey team for us, they will be tough. We’re missing a couple of players for that game, we’ll treat it as a free hit.”

But Done is hoping Buckingham will also be tested on the run-in.

Their final two games are at seventh-place Pendle Forest and at home to Beeston, who are fourth, and he said: “Pendle Forest will be very, very tricky. We are the only team to have won away against them, they won’t be easy to beat.”

Buckingham and Gloucester drew 2-2 at Gloucester in mid-October before sharing six goals in the reverse fixture at the end of last month.

Done says he has been surprised by their recent run of results.

“They are a very similar side to us,” he said. “They’ve got a good core of experienced players and juniors on the rise.

“But we’re very disappointed with our results against them and the way we played in those games.

“We can be amazing for periods in games but our challenge is to maintain those levels.”

Done is hoping they can reach those top levels over the final few weeks.

“The squad have been brilliant, they keep making progress,” he said. “We want to create a team that people want to play for.

“We’ve got players travelling from Cardiff, Bristol and Worcester. They are a great bunch and they enjoy playing together, that is very important.”